Artisan Hand Crafted Faux Painting

Spoiler alert – this post has nothing to do with quilting.  But it does have everything to do with my continued quest for hand crafting wherever possible, which is the sole purpose of this blog.

It started back in 1987 when we purchased our home.  The interior is all wood.  I mean ALL wood, tongue and groove Western Red Cedar walls and ceiling, custom oak cabinets and door trim, six panel hard maple interior doors, stair rails, and…….. painted steel exterior doors, all stained to match.  Let’s just say you have to love wood to live here, which we do.  The down side is you live with the same wood tone forever; the up sides are no maintenance and no repainting every couple of years. 

 

All that celebrating aside, we’ve had a problem with the faux grain painted doors from the beginning.  They were too light and as the wood darkened with age the shade difference became more obvious.  Add normal wear near the lock and well, we’re overdue for a bit of new door makeup. 

 

 

So I  avoided it….for a long time.  You see, the front door has a raised panel side light that needs to be done in place rather than placed horizontally on saw horses. Oy!  Overcoming my fear of phyllo dough recently I decided to face my next fear – faux grain painting.  After lots of DIY research and tutorials I was off to my nearby Benjamin Moore store (Repco Lite) with a small door to be matched.  A day later I returned to pick up my custom blended primer, base coat, gel stain and a finishing coat, and enough tools and confidence to convince myself I could do this.

I realize YouTube videos always show the ‘cliff notes’ version of doing everything, meaning shortened, and making things look so simple I could do this with my right arm tied behind my back, but I wasn’t afraid.  I felt bold.  We decided to experiment with the garage door first.  Hubby lightly sanded the door preparing it for primer (his contribution).  We’re off!  Then I applied a tinted primer……so far so good.

 

 

Next, I applied the custom color base coat.  Yes, they look remarkably alike, but they aren’t, and not so yellow.  Sigh of relief…….all is good.  Time to dry.

 

 

A fist full of graining tools, brushes, rags, and gel stain, and the pit in my stomach began to knot.  I had prepped a test panel purposely to validate the process before it hit the door.  Thank God I did!  It did not go well, and I adjusted pretty much every step.  The graining tool was benched.  My artist brushes, some paints and blending rags were now in the starting lineup.  I gingerly covered the entire surface with a gentle coat gel stain and recreated a soft background grain. 

After a little dry time, I put my artist cap and smock on, and began painting in the grain of a hundred foot tall oak, with my sample door as my guide.  If it matches this, it will match the door trim, my target.  I feathered and smoothed working a long narrow section at a time.  Know when to stop…….a little sooner than you think you need to.  Shut off the light, walk away…..let it dry.  Voila!

 

I’ll apply two coats of polyurethane, flip and repeat the other side, and rehang.  Then I will do the front door, inside only…..and lastly face the door light.  Overcoming my fear is in process.  Artisan hand crafted all the way!